Tropylium tetrafluoroborate, a novel substrate for aldehyde oxidase.

The stabilized carbonium ion salt, tropylium tetrafluoroborate, was oxidized to tropone (cycloheptatrienone) by rabbit liver aldehyde oxidase but not by the closely related molybdenum hydroxylase, xanthine oxidase. The tropylium cation is an aromatic hydrocarbon which lacks the aldehyde, imine, or iminium functional groups present in other substrates of aldehyde oxidase. The unique structural features of the tropylium ion should make it a useful tool for mechanistic studies of aldehyde oxidase.